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Massachusetts Pay Transparency Law: What Every Employer and Employee Needs to Know

By Richard Gaudet, Esquire  |  Law Offices of Richard Alan Gaudet, LLC  |  Middleton, Massachusetts

NOTE AND DISCLAIMER: The following information is not intended, nor should be interpreted, as legal advice. Massachusetts employers and employees should not rely solely on this article when making compliance decisions under Massachusetts pay transparency or wage reporting laws. This article is for general informational purposes only. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading, interpreting, or using the information on this page. Contact 978-273-8337 for personalized legal guidance.

Massachusetts has long been at the forefront of protecting workers and promoting fairness in the workplace. With the signing of Chapter 141 of the Acts of 2024 — commonly referred to as the Massachusetts Pay Transparency and Salary Range Disclosure Law — the Commonwealth has enacted significant new laws that will affect nearly every Massachusetts employer and employee. Whether you own a business, manage a human resources department, or are a worker looking for a new job, understanding what these new laws require is essential.

This article explains what the new Massachusetts pay transparency law requires, who it applies to, when the requirements take effect, and what the consequences are for non-compliance. Both employers and employees should read carefully.

What Is the Massachusetts Pay Transparency Law?

The Massachusetts Pay Transparency Law is an act relative to salary range transparency, enacted in 2024. The law amends existing provisions of the Massachusetts General Laws — particularly Chapter 149, which governs labor and employment — to require covered employers to disclose pay ranges in job postings and to provide wage data to state agencies. The goal of the new law is to reduce wage discrimination, close the gender and racial pay gap, and give Massachusetts employees and job applicants a clearer picture of what a position pays before they apply or accept a job offer.

The new law builds on Massachusetts’s existing commitments to pay equity, including the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, and introduces two major components: salary range disclosure requirements for job postings and enhanced wage data reporting obligations for larger employers.

Who Is a “Covered Employer” Under the New Law?

The Massachusetts pay transparency law applies to both private and public employers with at least 25 employees whose primary place of work was in Massachusetts during the prior calendar year. To determine whether your business meets this threshold, Massachusetts employers must count all individuals who performed services for wages or other compensation — including full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers — whose primary place of work is in Massachusetts.

The Attorney General’s Office has adopted the definition of “primary place of work” from its Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law guidance. Under that definition, the primary place of work refers to the location where an employee performs the majority of their work. This is a nuanced standard that requires careful analysis, particularly for employers with dispersed or remote workforces.

Who Counts Toward the 25-Employee Threshold?

Massachusetts employers should include the following workers in their headcount calculation:

• Employees who telecommute to a Massachusetts worksite, even if those employees are physically located in another state.
• Employees who telecommute from Massachusetts to an out-of-state worksite.
• Employees who permanently relocate to Massachusetts, starting from their first day of work in the state.

The headcount calculation should be performed once a year by averaging the number of employees on the payroll across all pay periods during the prior calendar year. This is not a snapshot of a single day — it is an average across the full year. Massachusetts employers, including those in the technology, healthcare, and professional services sectors who have embraced remote work arrangements, should pay particular attention to this rule. An employer headquartered outside Massachusetts may nonetheless be a “covered employer” under the new law if enough of its workforce telecommutes to or from the Commonwealth.

This is an important threshold for small and mid-sized Massachusetts businesses to understand. A business that has recently grown to 25 employees — or that employs seasonal workers who bring the annual average above 25 — may become a covered employer without realizing it. Massachusetts employers should carefully review their payroll records and consult with a Massachusetts employment attorney if they are unsure of their coverage status.

Which Job Postings Are Covered?

Covered Massachusetts employers must disclose the pay range in any advertisement or job posting intended to recruit applicants for a specific employment position where the primary place of work is in Massachusetts — including postings placed through a third party. This means that even if a Massachusetts employer uses an outside staffing agency or recruiting firm to fill a position, the pay range must still appear in the posting. Employers cannot delegate away their disclosure obligation by routing their hiring through a third party.

The disclosure requirement also applies to remote positions in two situations: first, where the remote position is tied to a Massachusetts worksite; and second, where the position can be performed by an employee located in Massachusetts, even if the employer has no physical presence in the state. This is a significant expansion that reflects the reality of the modern remote-work economy. A Massachusetts employer — or even an out-of-state employer whose remote roles are open to Massachusetts-based workers — needs to ensure its postings comply with the new law.

Key Point for Massachusetts Employers: The pay range disclosure requirement applies to new job postings, promotions, and transfer opportunities. If you are a covered employer advertising a position — whether you post it yourself or use a third-party recruiter — you must include a good-faith pay range in that posting, including for remote roles open to Massachusetts employees.

How Is “Pay Range” Defined?

The Massachusetts pay transparency law defines “pay range” as the lowest to highest salary or hourly wage an employer reasonably and in good faith expects to offer at the time of posting for an advertised job, promotion, or transfer opportunity. This is a “good faith” standard — employers are not expected to commit to an exact figure, but they are expected to post a range that honestly reflects what they intend to pay. Posting an artificially broad range (for example, “$30,000 to $500,000”) in an attempt to technically comply while obscuring meaningful wage information would not satisfy this standard.

Importantly, if compensation is based on commission or a piece rate structure, the employer should include the expected range of those earnings in the posting as well. This ensures that Massachusetts employees in sales, trade, or other performance-based roles receive the same meaningful wage transparency as workers in salaried positions.

Disclosure of Salary Range Information Beyond Job Postings

The Massachusetts pay transparency law goes beyond requiring pay ranges in job advertisements. Covered employers must also disclose pay range information in several additional situations involving both applicants and current employees.

Specifically, covered Massachusetts employers must disclose the pay range for salaried and hourly positions in the following circumstances:

• To any applicant, upon request — regardless of the applicant’s qualifications. An employer cannot refuse to provide a pay range simply because it has decided the applicant is not qualified.
• To current employees who are offered a promotion or transfer — the employer must disclose the pay range for the new position at the time the opportunity is presented.
• To current employees who request the pay range for their own position — employees have the right to know where their wages fall within their employer’s established range for their role.

These provisions give Massachusetts employees meaningful leverage to identify and address wage inequities. An employee who suspects they are being paid below the range for their position — or below colleagues in the same role — now has a statutory right to request that information. Massachusetts employers should establish clear internal processes for responding to these requests promptly and consistently.

Wage Data Reporting Requirements for Larger Massachusetts Employers

In addition to the salary range disclosure requirements, the new law creates important wage data reporting obligations for larger Massachusetts employers. Covered employers — which in this context means employers with 100 or more employees — are required to submit wage data to the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Specifically, covered employers must submit a wage data report that mirrors, in many ways, the federal EEO-1 data report. The EEO-1 report is a compliance survey mandated by federal law that requires many employers to submit data about their workforce’s composition by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category. Massachusetts’s new law ties into this existing federal framework and requires employers to provide comparable information to the state.

The Different Report Types Under the New Law

The Massachusetts law references several types of EEO data reports with distinct requirements:

• EEO-1 Data Report: Required from employers with 100 or more employees. Contains workforce demographic and pay data categorized by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category.
• EEO-3 Data Report: Applicable to local unions, containing similar workforce demographic and pay data.
• EEO-4 Data Report: Applicable to state and local governmental employers.
• EEO-5 Data Report: Applicable to elementary and secondary school systems.
• Aggregate Wage and Workforce Data Report: Required under Chapter 23 amendments, this report reflects aggregate wage and workforce data collected from covered employers and separated by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry categories.

Massachusetts employers should determine which type of report applies to them and begin gathering the necessary workforce data well in advance of the reporting deadlines established by the law.

Who Must File EEO Reports with the State?

Employers that are already required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to submit federal EEO reports must also submit those same reports to the Secretary of the Commonwealth under the new Massachusetts law. The state reporting schedule and deadlines are discussed in the next section. Massachusetts employers who are unsure whether they are currently required to file federal EEO reports should consult with an employment attorney to determine their obligations under both federal and state law.

Reporting Deadlines: When Do These Requirements Take Effect?

The new Massachusetts pay transparency and wage reporting laws have phased implementation dates. Key deadlines include:

• The state secretary is required to conduct a public awareness campaign informing covered employers of the new requirements no later than April 1, 2025.
• Covered employers must submit their initial EEO-1, EEO-3, and EEO-4 data reports to the state no later than February 1, 2026.
• The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development shall publish the first aggregate workforce development data report pursuant to the new law no later than June 1, 2025.
• The first aggregate wage and workforce development report is to be published no later than June 1, 2026.

Going forward, covered employers must submit annual reports on odd-numbered years no later than April 1, and on even-numbered years no later than April 1 as well. Massachusetts employers should place these dates on their compliance calendars immediately.

How Will Wage Data Be Made Public?

One of the more significant aspects of the new Massachusetts law is that the wage data submitted by covered employers will not simply sit in a government database. The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development is required to publish this aggregate wage and workforce development data on its website. The data, however, will be reported in aggregate form — meaning individual employers will not be identified in the public-facing reports. The law is also clear that individual wage data submitted by employees to the state is not considered “public records” under Massachusetts law, providing an important privacy protection for individual workers.

Anti-Retaliation Protections for Employees

The Massachusetts pay transparency law includes strong protections for employees and job applicants who exercise their rights under the law. It is unlawful for a covered employer to retaliate against or discharge any employee or applicant because that person:

• Has exercised any rights under this section;
• Made any complaint to their employer or filed a complaint with the attorney general;
• Instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under this section; or
• Testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding.

These anti-retaliation protections are critical for Massachusetts employees. If you believe your employer has retaliated against you for asking about pay ranges, filing a complaint, or otherwise exercising your rights under the new law, you should consult with a Massachusetts employment attorney promptly.

Penalties for Non-Compliance: What Massachusetts Employers Risk

Massachusetts employers who fail to comply with the new pay transparency law face meaningful penalties. The attorney general has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce the new law and may seek both injunctive and declaratory relief. The penalty structure is tiered:

• A covered employer who violates the law for the first time shall receive a warning.
• For a second offense, the employer may be fined a maximum of $500.
• For a third offense, the employer may be fined a maximum of $1,000.
• For a fourth or subsequent offense, the employer may be fined a maximum of $7,500 per violation.

Additionally, a covered employer who violates job posting requirements for one or more positions may be required to pay up to treble damages — that is, three times the applicable fine — and carry that exposure for up to a 48-hour period per violation. Given that violations can multiply quickly in an active hiring environment, Massachusetts employers should not underestimate the financial risk of non-compliance.

Practical Takeaway: While first-time violations result in a warning rather than a fine, establishing compliance systems now is far less costly than defending against enforcement actions or paying escalating penalties for repeat violations.

What Should Massachusetts Employers Do Right Now?

With the new law’s effective date approaching, Massachusetts employers should take proactive steps to come into compliance. Here is a practical starting point:

• Assess coverage: Determine whether your Massachusetts business employs 25 or more employees (for salary range posting) or 100 or more employees (for wage data reporting).
• Audit your job postings: Review all current and planned job postings — including those placed through third-party recruiting firms — and build processes to include good-faith pay ranges in each posting going forward.
• Develop pay range structures: If your business does not already have documented pay ranges for each position, now is the time to create them. This will help ensure consistency and support your compliance efforts.
• Train HR and management: Human resources personnel, hiring managers, and supervisors should understand the new requirements so that pay ranges are disclosed appropriately and no retaliatory actions inadvertently occur.
• Prepare for wage data reporting: If you have 100 or more employees, begin gathering the workforce demographic and pay data you will need to file with the state by February 1, 2026.
• Consult a Massachusetts employment attorney: The new law has nuances, including interactions with existing Massachusetts wage laws and federal EEO obligations. A qualified attorney can help you build a compliance program that works for your specific business.

What Does This Mean for Massachusetts Employees and Job Seekers?

For employees and job seekers in Massachusetts, the new pay transparency law is a significant step forward. Gone are the days when Massachusetts workers had to navigate job applications with no idea what a position would pay — sometimes only discovering the salary range after investing significant time in an interview process. Under the new law, covered employers must include pay ranges in job postings, making it far easier for Massachusetts workers to make informed decisions about which positions to pursue.

Current employees also gain new rights. If you are a Massachusetts employee at a covered employer and you want to know the pay range for your position, you can now ask — and your employer must tell you. This transparency can empower employees to have better-informed conversations with their employers about wages, raises, and career advancement.

If you believe your employer is not complying with the new Massachusetts pay transparency requirements, or if you have experienced retaliation for exercising your rights, contact the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office or speak with a Massachusetts employment attorney to understand your options.

Conclusion: A New Era of Wage Transparency in Massachusetts

Chapter 141 of the Acts of 2024 represents a meaningful shift in the landscape of Massachusetts employment law. By requiring covered employers to disclose pay ranges in job postings, to provide salary information to current employees and applicants upon request, and to submit wage data to the state, Massachusetts has joined a growing number of states and cities committed to reducing pay inequity and increasing workplace transparency.

Whether you are a Massachusetts employer preparing for compliance or a Massachusetts employee seeking to understand your new rights, the key takeaway is this: the new laws are real, the deadlines are approaching, and the time to act is now. Contact the Law Offices of Richard Alan Gaudet, LLC at 978-273-8337 for guidance tailored to your specific situation.

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in the pages and posts of this website are for general informational purposes only. The information presented on this site is not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is formed by the use of this site. The Law Offices of Richard Alan Gaudet, LLC serves clients throughout Massachusetts, including Beverly, Salem, Peabody, Lynn, Lowell, Haverhill, and surrounding communities.

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